What Should I Be When I'm Older Quiz
How the Scales are Structured
Who Usually Takes This Test?
See How You Compare
Below is a preview of how scores are typically distributed across each scale.
Example Questions From the Test
- Seeing a physical object, space, meal, or system take working form
- Completing a sequence of concrete tasks and checking the result directly
- Improving the plan so other people can carry out the work efficiently
- Developing an idea that may not produce a visible result until much later
- Whether the central idea feels original and captures the audience
- How wording, colour, pacing, or layout could be improved
- Whether the message is organized and delivered on schedule
- Whether every claim is supported by accurate evidence
- Try a small real task and improve through direct practice
- Watch a demonstration, gather the materials, and copy each step
- Read about the principles before deciding whether to try it
- Imagine creative variations and design a finished result first
What Should I Be When I'm Older Quiz - Description and methodology of the test
People considering their next direction can use the What Should I Be When I'm Older Quiz to organize work preferences into a career-interest profile. It suits anyone seeking a starting point for comparing motivations, not a prediction of one fixed occupation. The result shows which activities attract you and where further exploration may be useful. It can clarify what I want to be when I'm older.
What This Assessment Explores
The items explore activities across people, ideas, systems, organization, and tangible work. If you wonder what you should do when you're older, the result compares motives rather than naming a career.
The five profile areas are:
- Business and Leadership Careers, 0-12, shows interest in direction, resources, and results: Low pull 0-4; Emerging organizer 5-8; Enterprising leader 9-12.
- Creative Communication Careers, 0-12, shows interest in original ideas and audience connection: Other paths stand out 0-4; Creative contributor 5-8; Creative communicator 9-12.
- Helping and Teaching Careers, 0-12, shows interest in growth and connection: Lower helping focus 0-4; Supportive collaborator 5-8; People-focused guide 9-12.
- Practical and Hands-On Careers, 0-12, shows preference for tangible results: Low hands-on preference 0-4; Practical contributor 5-8; Hands-on maker 9-12.
- Science and Technology Careers, 0-12, shows interest in evidence and complex systems: Lower interest 0-4; Curious problem-solver 5-8; Analytical explorer 9-12.
Methodology and Scientific Basis
Each prompt presents a work situation with several possible responses. The options contrast approaches to communication, problem-solving, support, planning, expression, and hands-on action. Choosing the response that feels most appealing creates a preference profile. Questions about what job I should do when I'm older can then be explored through the pattern rather than answered by one high score.
Methodologically, the questionnaire is conceptually consistent with the O*NET Interest Profiler (Rounds et al., 2010), the development work of Lewis and Rivkin (1999), and structural findings from Warlick et al. (2018). It also reflects Holland's (1997) link between vocational interests and work environments. It is not a direct administration or adaptation of those published instruments.
Answers are grouped into five displayed interest areas and reported on their stated scales; the bands indicate relative preference within this questionnaire. A person wondering what job I should have when I'm older should read the overall pattern alongside skills, values, opportunities, and experience. Because responses are self-reported, current context, self-awareness, and impression management can affect results. The profile is not norm-referenced evidence of intelligence, talent, or occupational success.
- Rounds, James, Rong Su, Phil Lewis, and David Rivkin. (2010). O*NET Interest Profiler Short Form Psychometric Characteristics: Summary. National Center for O*NET Development, Raleigh, NC.
- Warlick, Craig A., Paul B. Ingram IV, Michael S. Ternes, and Thomas S. Krieshok. (2018). An Investigation Into the Structural Form of the O*NET-Interest Profiler-Short Form. Journal of Career Assessment, 26(3), 503-514. 10.1177/1069072717714544
- Lewis, Phil, and David Rivkin. (1999). Development of the O*NET Interest Profiler. National Center for O*NET Development, Raleigh, NC.
- Holland, John L. (1997). Making Vocational Choices: A Theory of Vocational Personalities and Work Environments. 3rd ed. Psychological Assessment Resources, Odessa, FL.
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